Archive for the ‘druidry’ Category

Yesterday I watched as Venus and the last sliver of the Moon had a conversation in the dawn sky. Many days I get up early to go to a yoga class, and when the Moon is almost finished with her journey, she rises with me. If Venus is in her morning phase, we all three rise together. I took a picture from my phone to record the beauty of their dawn rendezvous, but all you can see is the intense relationship between these two gems.

photo: Sarah Fuhro

The New Moon on Saturday will feature an eclipse of the Sun visible in Asia. The big excitement for most of us will come at the full Moon, when there is a total lunar eclipse, the Moon huge in perigee, a ‘blood Moon!’ visible to North and South America, Europe, Middle East, most of Africa, and part of Asia.

The morning I watched the little Moon and sparkling Venus I received a clear message about the new Moon: the word was ‘sensuality’. I could feel that sensuality in the yoga class. I felt my body become integrated with a larger body, the human body! All this makes sense with the huge amount of Capricorn stacked up in this chart. Form, structure, organization, materialization, embodiment, are all characteristics of Capricorn. The sign is usually associated with government or business, and this new Moon takes place as a new Congress is sworn in, after a complete breakdown of government function. The ‘body politic’ needs some embodiment!

photo: Robert Fuhro

Maybe the ice of the winter season after the Solstice is part of that Capricorn structure. Water stilled in the form of ice is reflected at this new Moon moment in the position and degree of Neptune, King of the Waters, in the Water sign of Pisces. Does Neptune work to wash away the Capricorn organization? Or does Capricorn freeze up the watery nature of Neptune in Pisces. This next week should be interesting!!

This much Capricorn, especially with Saturn, ruler of Capricorn in the crowd of planets can create a sense of stillness, felt as depression. Daylight is short. Yet there is also a message of quiet possibility. This is a time to begin to manifest whatever wishes, dreams, visions you have held for many years or lifetimes. Do some magic to focus on the possibility of creation! Put a message into a bottle and send it out into Neptune’s deep waters, beyond the ice jam!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Saturn is the planet of bones, Capricorn is in charge of the joints of our body, structure which holds us together. This new Moon gathering of Capricorn planets includes Sun, Moon, Mercury, Pluto and the South Node, the eclipse point in the chart, what was learned and used but is the tail end of experience, all that which is used up, ready to be left behind!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Sometimes

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest

breathing
like the ones
in the old stories

who could cross
a shimmering bed of dry leaves
without a sound,

you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests

conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.

The full Moon celebrates the Winter Solstice on Saturday, December 22. Both Luminaries, Sun and Moon are at 0 degree of Capricorn and Cancer, constellations which mark the entry into winter and summer. This is a moment when we can hear the Music of the Spheres. It is a moment of absolute stillness, a chance to begin anew in a place of cosmic attunement!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The approach to the dark winter solstice always feels dangerous and death ridden. But there is an opportunity for healing at this moment. The position of Mars and Chiron as they relate to the Sun and Moon speaks of healing, finding a doctor within. What can be done to lighten the mood? Mars says: party like crazy, go to concerts, sing and feast! Chiron recommends embracing all the colors of your crystal, knowing how important is your ray of light in this spectrum. Leave nothing of yourself behind in the cold.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

There’s a strong suggestion of surprise in this chart as Uranus, the Wild One shakes Sun and Moon with fiery energy. The Sabian Symbol for the position of Uranus is Attunement to cosmic order. ‘Listen to Your Inner Voice!’ he says from his perch in Aries. Look into the crystal, a reminder of all the frequencies of colors which must go into a ray of pure white light. To hear the Inner Voice, we have to trust our own light, our own music!

Venus and Neptune are in a harmonious trine of Water signs. They play the background music for this Sun Moon dance. What will the entry of the Moon into Cancer (more Water), mean for the planets of love? Perhaps Venus and Neptune will tune us to the cosmic order. Cosmic music, like the light of the crystal, requires each vibration of sound.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

A musical theme seems right for a full Moon at the season when we sing or hear music the most. The Sabian Symbol for Uranus continues with the theme of ‘cosmic attunement.’ ‘If you are ready to enter into new possibilities of action, you must also learn the harmonic principles in operation! The Music of the Spheres.’ All we are asked to do is to stop a moment to feel the Sun’s journey and the full Moon’s sweet voice!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The celebration of the journey of the Sun and Moon, gives depth and comfort to every person, no matter who they are, where they live. Each voice in praise of the Earth and Sky are more powerful than all the forces of destruction and despair! The bird of this season is the Wren, smallest of all, with the sweetest note! The old song says: ‘Who sees the Wren sees God.’ Our song is never too small to move hearts and to brighten the dark season.

photo: Robert Fuhro (Carolina Wren)

The Wisdom Tradition evolved over the centuries to address our deepest human needs. Sarah Fuhro is a practitioner of its many forms; including Astrology, Tarot, Flower Essences and Druidry. For an appointment call 508 652 9880 or email her at sarahfuhro@gmail.com. In addition to personal consultations, Sarah teaches workshops and private classes, offering both clients and students knowledge powerfully rooted in the past, presented in the language of the present.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Friday morning, just after midnight (EST), the full Moon reaches her greatest distance from the Sun to illuminate what lies below the surface of our consciousness. I suppose Moonlight always lights what we can’t see with our daylight vision, but the degree of this full Moon offers the planetary psyche, all of us, ‘a new dimension of reality.’ This full Moon takes place as a celebration of the Sun’s entry into Sagittarius, a constellation of great hope and vision. Moon enters the opposite sign ofGemini as a way to communicate (the specialty of this sign) what Sagittarius wants to reveal.

The planet who guides Gemini, Mercury, the magician, lives at the degree of a special image of deep power and imagination: IN THE LEFT SECTION OF AN ARCHAIC TEMPLE, A LAMP BURNS IN A CONTAINER SHAPED LIKE A HUMAN BODY.

clay figure: Sarah Fuhro

How does the human body bring light to ancient problems? I depend upon my body’s response to tell me what my eyes cannot see. More and more I find that my breath changes perception. And as Mercury is on a retrograde journey, we must plan to stop for a moment to learn everything over again, the breath, the perception, the Moon lit road.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Think of this full Moon in Gemini as a new beginning in perception. Both Sun and Moon are at 0 degree, they are like a new pair of glasses, a new start more than a culmination. But are they emerald glasses? rose-colored glasses? Illusion or a clear vision?

‘A NEW DIMENSION OF REALITY’ is promised by this full Moon in Gemini, ‘The revelation of unconscious energies and submerged psychic structures’ cannot be seen if we don’t take a moment to look through the lens of the ‘Glass bottom boat.’ What can be seen may be murky at first, or even ominous.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Light through water plays tricks. Distance becomes illusory. We reach for something and it is beyond our grasp. Yet there is something about this underwater world which is intriguing, even necessary to our understanding of the dry land we inhabit. Maybe we can learn something from Jupiter, who has just spent the last year in Scorpio, a watery sign of the deep places. Now he is a few degrees from the Sun in his new sign, Sagittarius. He is there to support the Sun in the newly entered sign, which Jupiter rules.

This is the lunar month of Ngetal, the Reed, a time of dark days, and early nights. Reeds grow in swamps, the beginning of new life, the places of death and renewal, Scorpio. The asteroid Ceres (Demeter) is in Scorpio at this moment. She is in a trine with Mars in Pisces, release and endings. Everything in this chart conspires to offer power to the regal pair, Sun and Moon, ‘the luminaries.’

photo: Sarah Fuhro

Gold is light from the Sun reflected in a swamp near my house. Take heart, this is a full Moon to lift our spirits. Gemini, the chatter box and Sagittarius the visionary, push away the fears, which leap out to deter us.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

‘An Electrical Storm‘ is the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the full Moon in Taurus. And, to make sure we feel this electrical energy, the planet Uranus, full of the shock value of lightning, sits within one degree of the Moon. Yet, here’s the strange part: the Sabian Symbol for Uranus is: ‘A Clear Mountain Stream.’ It seems as if the Moon and Uranus have swapped roles! Our mother the Moon wants to shake us up, the change maker, Uranus wants us to remember our source!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The Moon loves to be in the sign of Taurus. Taurus is an Earth sign, where the Moon showers her love upon this planet which she watches over. Perhaps she remembers when the Earth was in the sign of Taurus, about 5000 years ago, a time of deep reverence for the feminine, reflected in the art of the time, and stored somewhere in our modern consciousness.

rock sculpture and photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The two Sabian Symbols tell us an interesting story. ‘A Clear Mountain Stream‘ is about ‘our pure, uncontaminated source.’ When we can feel that source in ourself, we rejoice in our deepest, most spontaneous and unnamed and untamed nature. Potential to accomplish whatever our ‘work’ may be is available. This is the gift of Uranus to this full Moon. And the full Moon reflects the electrical energy held in Uranus, ‘An Electrical Storm’! Our deepest and purest manifestation is electrified by this moment on Wednesday. Here’s a way to connect and electrify our true nature, as a species and as individuals.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

And the degree of the Sun, adds a nostalgic note to this full Moon. His Sabian Symbol: ‘A Delicate Bottle of Perfume Lies Broken, Releasing its Fragrance.’ This romantic touch may be from the proximity of Venus to the Sun. The two of them make a strange balance to the Moon/Uranus combination of electrified soul source! Sense of smell and taste, music, touch, all have a way of recalling a memory from the past, and stirring deep feelings of pain or nostalgia. Like the broken bottle, we open and release poignant feelings only when we are least expecting them. At death or at extreme moments of joy and pain, our soul, like the fragrance from the broken perfume bottle is released from its ‘delicate bottle.’

photo: Robert Fuhro

And that companion to the Sun, Venus, in the sign of Scorpio, presents a very contrary image to the delicate symbol of a broken perfume bottle, releasing fragrance. Instead Venus is symbolized as: ‘A Massive Rocky Shore Resists the Pounding of the Sea‘. There is a theme of surrender and resistance to change in these two symbols. It feel as if we are challenged by the Moon and Uranus to feel and embrace the energy of electrical change of this time, and yet we struggle with the pain and resistance we feel to change.

photo: Sarah Fuhro

To deepen the powerful thrust of this time Sun and Moon are locked in a perfect square to the Lunar Nodes, which hold the key to where we have been and where we need to travel. The North Node in Leo, urges us on to self expression, courage, and battle with the ego. Aquarius reminds us we are part of a community, and have a responsibility to create a livable future.

Last night I watched a film about the destruction of the land for two indigenous people, in Papua New Guinea and northern Canada. I came away deeply depressed by the enormous forces of destruction which support my comfortable life style, fills my gas tank and powers my cell phone. What is my power to resist the destruction of the natural world, while embracing the change, which is: ‘the cosmic power able to transform all the implications of natural existence.’ This seems to be the conundrum, and the message of the full Moon in Taurus, which takes place Wednesday, October 24, at 12:45 EDT

The Sabian Symbols are verbal images for each degree of the zodiac. They were created by a psychic, Laura Wheeler and an astrologer and philosopher, Marc Edmund Jones. The astrologer and composer, Dane Rudhyar edited and polished them in his book: The Astrology of Personality. They give me visual clues to the mysteries held in astrological charts.

We are half way through the astrological year which begins in March with the Sun’s entry into Aries. Monday, Sun and Moon meet in the 15th degree of Libra, half way through that sign. We are once more at a place of balance between dark and light, but headed towards the darkest moment of the year. We feel it in our bodies, and in the rapid approach of evening.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Persephone, the wife of Hades returns to her kingdom in the Underworld.

Hades

Upon her sudden entrance

to the Kingdom of the Dead,

the childlike Persephone

was transformed,

her light stripped away.

For no maiden

may walk the halls of Hades.

Yet the story does not end here,

in shame and loss.

While the gateway was harsh,

the castle was full of pleasures,

and Persephone came to cherish

the shadowless towers,

the rolling dark meadows,

and strange fruit and flowers.

Those who have not traveled these lands

should not speak of their imagined gloom.

She who had once run carefree,

a flower by her mother’s side,

now walked with purpose,

her household in awe

of her quiet gaze.

poem: Sarah Fuhro

Today Venus begins to travel in retrograde. She starts the journey in Scorpio, a location full of deep feeling and intensity, and then reenters Libra, a place of balance. She visits a sign ruled by Mars (Scorpio), and then settles back into a sign ruled by Venus (Libra). With Venus in retrograde we all have an opportunity to see ourselves in relationships as our lovers and partners see us. Venus retrograde holds the mirror up to us.

photo: Sarah Fuhro

Persephone’s mother, Demeter/Ceres is one degree from the new Moon. Perhaps the relationship we must reflect upon during this Venus retrograde is a connection to our mother, the Earth. But we are interwoven with Earth. How can we ‘relate’ to her? Perhaps through the relationship of the Moon and the Sun we can understand the way to live in harmony with our planet. The Sabian Symbol for the degree where Ceres is located is: ‘Circular Paths.’ ‘It is only when the individual has become fully attuned to, and in a sense identified with the vast planetary and cosmic rhythms of the universe, and thus free from emotional and group tensions, that he can act serenely and at peace along ‘circular paths.'” Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Sarah Fuhro is an astrologer, flower essence practitioner and Tarot reader. She consults with clients and teaches these ancient arts as well. You can reach her at Sarahfuhro@gmail.com.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

The New Moon in Virgo, which we celebrate this Sunday has an intriguing Sabian Symbol: A Ouija Board! A Ouija Board is symbol of intuitive communication, a way to connect to spirit guides. It’s time to travel, perhaps to travel alone, inward. Virgo has a solitary thread which is often hard to discern in our sociable nature. After all, the ‘ruler’ of Virgo is Mercury, lord of communication. But a Virgo must listen to inner guides, and must do this alone on an inward spiral.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

This new Moon which takes place in Virgo marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hoshannah. By tradition, a spiral bread is eaten on this holiday.

A spiral is the way of the underground water pathways. Surely, if the earth has underground water patterns, we must as well. And the solitary journey inward will be very significant for this new Moon, because Sun and Moon are exactly opposite watery Neptune in Pisces. At the last full Moon, August 26 we celebrated the Virgo Pisces axis, a representation of the healer and healing. https://sarahfuhro.wordpress.com/2018/08/24/medicine-of-water-and-snakes/.

The Sabian Symbol for this degree continues the theme of healing through solitary travel inward. Neptune’s degree is symbolized by: In the quiet of his study, a creative individual experiences a flow of inspiration.’ The individual aspect of the creative process is emphasized as is the individual’s need for concentration and at least inner quiet. He must have faith in his own SUBJECTIVE STRENGTH.’

The healing theme continues with the Virgo Sun and Moon in concert with Neptune in Pisces. Music (Pisces) might be an important theme as you find a quiet moment to celebrate this tender beginning.

But why call this Moon chat, Pilgrim’s Progress? All new Moons suggest a fresh start, a release of old stories and anxiety, a transformation of identity. This Moon seems to suggest sacred travel. Maybe, because the Virgo Pilgrim has to settle her affairs before she sets out? A Pilgrim has to travel light, to be resourceful, to accept the ups and downs of travel, the need to acknowledge that he is vulnerable. Looking at the chart, over and over again, I came upon a possible impetus for the pilgrimage, theme. Uranus is opposite Venus. A deep and mysterious love (Venus in Scorpio) is shaken by a Uranic thunderstorm. The pilgrimage site is underground (Uranus in Taurus). Here is a place of absolute renewal, a death and rebirth, which cannot be experienced except through a dynamic and electric experience with the earth!

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Sarah Fuhro is an astrologer, flower essence practitioner and Tarot reader. She consults with clients and teaches these ancient arts as well. You can reach her at Sarahfuhro@gmail.com.

In each of us there is a fiery furnace. It is the place of transformation, the heart. The element of transformation is Fire. This Sagittarius full Moon gives the gift of that fire. What may have been burning embers is now a roaring blaze. Alchemy, the ancient art and science of transformation was never without the action of fire. Sagittarius is a sign associated with the transformation of the spirit through fire and joy. In the Tarot card, Temperance, which corresponds to Sagittarius, the angel Michael, mixes essence of old and new to create an alchemical state, which has no further need for ego.

The story of the Fiery Furnace in the Book of Daniel tells a tale of the three Jewish ‘children’ who would not worship the Statue of Gold erected by the King of Babylon. The three, including the prophet Daniel were flung into a fiery furnace and the heat turned up, yet they remained untouched by the flames and a fourth figure was seen in their midst.

All this suggests the nature of this moment of Full Moon, when Moon, Chiron and the North Node are arranged in a fiery triangle, a Wheel of Flame.

Healing (Chiron) and evolution (the North Node) is the message of this configuration of the Fire Signs. It seems perfectly illustrated by the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the Moon, ‘a Mother leads her small child, step by step up a steep stairway.’

We are here to help each other with healing and transformation, which can bind up the wounds in the human condition and our relationship to the Earth. Evolution into a new form of humanity can only be accomplished through group intention rather than the old way of attempting to progress one soul at a time.

photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Sagittarius is open to spiritual adventures and new territory, travel, optimism, and an open embrace of diversity. This is a full Moon of possibility, curiosity and hunger, greater than our fear which keeps us locked in old ways. Sagittarius is a free spirit, open to the impulse of the fiery furnace of the heart. In the photograph above there is a chain across the bottom of the staircase, an impediment to those who would be held back, but no real barrier to any who are determined to explore those stairs.

It’s strange I could not find images of a woman ascending a staircase, only descending!

I found a painting by Burne-Jones of musicians descending a winding staircase.

There is Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase:

And Rembrandt shows a woman with a small child, but also descending the stairs:

What does it take to imagine a woman ascending the stairs? With the Sabian Symbol of a woman, her child and the step by step ascent of a steep staircase, we can look up to the Moon and imagine ourselves climbing a golden ladder to reach her. We can be like Jacob as he slept, homesick in the desert, he saw the angels ascending and descending a golden ladder. I don’t like to think that ascending is somehow better than descending, but like the waxing and waning of the Moon, there must be equal appreciation for the special gifts of both!

William Blake, Jacob’s Dream

This full Moon and Mars point to Venus in the sign of Cancer. Perhaps she is the mother of the small child in us, ready to climb the next step in a steep staircase. Cancer is the Moon’s sign, and opens the door to the season of summer. Yet even as Cancer marks the highest point in the Sun’s journey North, it is also the turning point to Sun’s return South, and the slow growth toward darkness for our hemisphere.

Where is the Sun in this moment of opposition to the Moon? He has a Sabian Symbol very connected to Sagittarius: A quiver full of arrows! Sagittarius is the archer in the sky, the centaur with drawn bow. We are given the gift of potential. Will the arrow find its mark or stay in the quiver?

Artemisia, the goddess of the Moon is often shown with bow and arrow. She is a hunter, and a full Moon light’s the hunter’s way to prey. Her arrows are the thoughts, which pierce the darkness, and invite us to dance under the full Moon! In Moonlight we see the world in a new way. Let this full Moon open your heart and mind to a new version of reality.